Most Top Film School Presidents Don't Sign anti-Trump Letter

USC and NYU among schools that haven't signed AACU letter yet

Only 11 of the top 25 American film schools are part of universities whose presidents have signed onto the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) “Call for Constructive Engagement” letter this week. The letter is a communal brushback against the Trump administration from the halls of Academia which says clearly, “we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.” Prodded on by Harvard’s forceful denunciation of Trump’s intrusion on academic freedom, the AACU letter is a rare symbol of academic unity. Over 320 college and university presidents signed the letter, representing most of the Ivy Leagues (including beleaguered Columbia), public ones like UC Berkeley, many of the SUNY schools, and prestigious private and religious ones like Georgetown and Notre Dame.

What’s conspicuously missing though (as of this writing) are the parent universities to most of the top 25 film schools in America, including USC, NYU, AFI, LMU, SCAD, UTAustin, UNC School of the Arts, DePaul, Columbia College Chicago, Syracuse, Art Center College of Design, and CSUN. It is heartening to see that 11 of the top 25 (as defined by The Hollywood Reporter’s annual list) are included on the list, including UCLA, CalArts, Columbia, Emerson, Boston U, Wesleyan, Ithaca College, Brooklyn College, Hofstra and #4 on the list, Chapman University (where I teach regularly).

As I’ve written before on my Substack, Trump is surely coming for Hollywood, just as he’s come for academia, law firms, media companies, big tech, immigrants and his own government employees. As I argued, this Trumpian moment is eerily reminiscent of the McCarthy era which similarly tried to impose a false purity test in the service of demagoguery and authoritarian impulse. Academia and Hollywood didn’t show a lot of strength then, and it’s too early to see what will happen now.

But at least this minor show of unity by academia in the form of this letter is a clarion call that academia might not roll over so easily. This is a lesson to Hollywood: Hang together and stand up for our rights or we will surely hang separately. And where does Hollywood come from? Largely from film schools. If film students at most of the prestigious institutions in America are learning to cave to authoritarians, what is the lesson for our film students? Don’t stand up to censorship. Don’t stand up for original ideas. Don’t stand up for freedom of expression. Don’t stand up to bullies.

For those of you in film school – or perhaps more importantly, alumni of film schools – now is the time to write to your deans. And film school deans? Now is the time to call your school presidents. This is the time and the moment to take a stand against the new McCarthyism. I realize not every film school carries that much weight within their respective universities. But for some - like at USC and NYU - these are the cash-cow colleges and departments that bring in prestige, fame and money. Those deans definitely carry some weight. Whether they choose to use it or not in this moment, we’ll see.

Note: The list of those college presidents who’ve signed the AACU list is changing by the hour. Please check the list to see what’s changed since I posted this.